Eye of the Storm
by Allanna Stone
Summary: When Emma discovers that she has magic, she sets off on an adventure of a lifetime to find her biological parents.
1. Chapter 1

**Eye of the Storm**

**I do not own Howl's Moving Castle.**

**SUMMARY:**

**When Emma discovers that she has magic, she sets off on an adventure of a lifetime to find her biological parents.**

Emma stared in shock at what she had done.

She snatched her hands away and stared at them with fear before looking around her. All she saw was looks of horror and fear.

"Monster!" she heard one girl whimper.

Emma stumbled backwards in shock, catching herself before she tripped and fell onto her rear.

"What just happened?" she asked herself softly, still in a daze. "What did I just do?"

And then, she turned and fled from the scene of the crime that she had just committed, in front of the other girls at the orphanage where she had lived for the past fourteen years. She ran out the door, never looking back as she fled from her former home.

She ran down the dirt road, grateful that she had decided to wear her favorite boots today. she ran as fast as she could, for as long as she could before collapsing in a heap in the middle of the road.

"I can't go back," she suddenly realized before bursting into fresh tears. She quickly lost track of time until she noticed that the sun was quickly slipping behind the mountains. She stood, forcing herself to stop crying and marched onwards with determination. "The past is in the past!" she spoke with determination as she reached into the little purse that she always carried with her, relaxing as her hands gazed the fat wad of bills that she had earned from her part time job as a bookkeeper.

She walked for most of the night, only pausing long enough to buy herself a sandwich and a flash of water at a passing town. She walked well into early morning, and even then, despite feeling tired and sore, she wanted to put as much distance as she could between the orphanage and herself.

Finally, she looked up and was surprised to find herself in a dense forest. She sighed as she sat down to rest. She shut her eyes for only a moment; when she opened them next, it was late afternoon.

Emma shot up with a soft yelp, scrambling to grab her boots and hat, which she had removed to spell her feet for a while.

_I'd better keep running_, she thought ruefully, replacing her hat back onto her head and trekking onwards. Within an hour, she found herself in a small city, where crowds of people hustled from place to place.

Emma decided that this would be a good place to disappear from.

She bought a train ticket to the next city with the little money she had, knowing that she'd find work in the next city if she didn't want to starve to death.

As she waited for her train to arrive, she got the strange feeling that she was being watched. Looking around, Emma didn't see anything out of the ordinary until her eyes scanned over an alleyway.

_The shadows were… moving?_

Emma slapped herself, thinking that it was because she had been on the run for a day and a half.

By the time she was on her train and heading out west, she had forgotten about the weird shifting shadows and was enjoying her first train ride. She stuck her head out the window, wandered down the corridors and took a short catnap.

By the time her stop had arrived, Emma was feeling very well rested and full (she had a lunch, provided by a nice gentleman who had offered her his home packed meal in favor of the richer food offered by the train staff), and was busy rehearsing what her story was.

"_It's now just me. No parents, no nothing to my name. I need work if I don't want to be turned out into the streets to fend for myself,_" she whispered softly as she hopped from the train onto the platform, where she strode over to the bulletin board and began to scan the classifieds for any job openings.

She didn't find anything,

Emma sighed, dejected as she turned to walk off towards a shop to ask about jobs.

Just then, a piece of paper fluttered at her feet, stopping as it laid perfectly flat against the cobblestone pathway. Emma belt down to pick it up.

**HELP WANTED**, it read.

Emma's heart jumped into her mouth as she stared at the purple lettering.

"Okay, I'll start there," she decided, straightening her back as she began to walk towards the royal palace.


	2. Chapter 2

**Eye of the Storm**

**I do not own Howl's Moving Castle.**

**SUMMARY:**

**When Emma discovers that she has magic, she sets off on an adventure of a lifetime to find her biological parents.**

"You can do this," Emma whispered as she stared at the door in front of her. "Keep it together!"

She took a deep breath before tapping softly at the wooden door. For a moment, no one answered, leaving her to think that she hadn't knocked loud enough. Just as she was about to knock again, the door was flung open to reveal a middle aged man with red hair and grey eyes.

"May I help you?" he asked her kindly, his eyes focusing on her.

Emma forced herself not to stutter or squeak and instead make eye contact.

"I was hired to run your errands for you, Master Francis," she got out, bowing her head in respect.

"Come in, won't you?" he invited her inside, to which she scampered into the room, gazing about her in wonder at everything. Magical devices whirred and clicked as mysterious smoke billowed out of glass bottles that were set up on a table.

"Wow…" breathed Emma as Wizard Francis scrambled around on his desk for a fresh piece of parchment and a quill.

"Feel free to poke about while I write what all I need for today, alright Miss…" he trailed off as Emma giggled shyly.

"My name is Emma," she introduced herself as she inspected a tube of brilliant blue smoke.

"Everything is quite harmless, there's no need to be timid, Emma," the wizard called out as the quill scratched furiously.

"It's not that- I don't want to ruin any hard work you might have accomplished," she explained softly as a dog came into the room, making a beeline for Emma. "Hello there."

"His name's Heen, he's Madame Sullivan's pet," explained the wizard as he waved the parchment in the air a few times to dry the ink. Finding a map on his desk, he circled a few things before handing everything over to Emma. "If you get lost, ask. Everyone in town is nice enough to help out with someone in need." He also handed her a small purse of gold coins, which she placed inside her coin pouch hanging at her belt.

"Thank you sir, I'll be back soon," Emma promised him before exiting the room, followed closely by Heen. "Do you want to help me, Heen?" The dog barked as an answer, which Emma took to be a yes. "Okay then, where can I find the herb shop?"

The little dog barked before trotting away, leaving Emma to jog in order to keep up with the little dog's fast pace. The two of them threaded their way past the thick crowd and Emma quickly found herself inside an herb shop.

"Hello, how might I help you?" asked a young man at the cash register.

"I'm here for a shipment for Wizard Francis," she raised her voice above its normal whisper and smiled bashfully as he went into the back room, returning with a small box. "Thank you," she gave him a few gold coins as she took the box under one arm, following Heen back outside. The two of them did their errands quickly and were back at the palace shortly before noon.

"Master Francis?" she called, tapping on the door with her foot. To her surprise, the door swung open and Heen entered, leaving Emma in the hallway. "Master Francis? I've finished the errands…"

She blinked as she realized the room was empty.

"Huh," she muttered, setting her packages down next to the door. "I wonder where he is…"

Heen barked from another room and Emma decided to investigate,

"Heen?" she called out, entering a small bedroom. "Where are you, you silly dog?"

"Francis?"

She squeaked at the unfamiliar voice, diving under the bed, where she found Heen and a dead mouse.

"Francis? Where are you?"

Emma held her breath as she heard footsteps coming towards the bedroom.

"Howl!"

Emma bit her lip at Francis's voice.

"How are you doing?"

"Good. I think I got a lead."

Emma could feel the other man- Howl- perk up with joy.

"Really?"

Emma decided to make her presence known. Wiggling out from under the bed, she stepped out of the bedroom and into the wizard's workshop, where she found her employer and another man talking in hushed voices.

"Master Francis?"

The two men turned to look at her as she held up a dead mouse that she found under his bed.

"I think you might have a vermin problem," she commented dryly, holding up the mouse for the two men to see. "I found Heen about ready to eat it."

Both men looked a bit squeamish as she tossed the mouse into a trash bin, where the mouse exploded into a puff of green smoke.

"I also completed the errands that you asked me to attend to," she waved a graceful hand at the packages, all stacked neatly at the door. "Is there anything else you'd like me to do?"

"No, you can go off on your own if you'd like," Francis told her. Emma took the remaining coins from her purse and set them on his desk, all the time not making any eye contact with the man named Howl.

"This is what was left of the money you gave me," she explained, turning to leave the room. She felt something being dropped into her coin purse and paused. She turned to look at the wizard, who was still standing next to the dark haired man. She looked inside her pouch and gaped at the gold coins that had magically appeared inside.

"Keep the change," ordered Francis in a kind voice. "I insist."

"Thank you," Emma smiled before turning to leave the room.

"If I may ask you a question?" Howl suddenly asked, stepping forward.

"You already had," Emma stated with a shy smirk, her hand on the doorknob

"It's about your hair, has it always been that color?" he pressed her.

Emma took a deep breath, feeling her body tensing up at the question.

"Yes."

And with that, she swept out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Eye of the Storm**

**I do not own Howl's Moving Castle.**

**SUMMARY:**

**When Emma discovers that she has magic, she sets off on an adventure of a lifetime to find her biological parents.**

Emma found herself back out in the marketplace again, this time with a handful of coins to her whim. She bought a roll and some cheese and ate it as she wandered about the bustling city square.

"This isn't the life I always wanted, but I'll take what I'm given," she whispered as she began to walk towards the fountain that she had passed a few hours ago while running errands.

Emma turned a corner and was suddenly surrounded by guards from the palace.

"Why aren't you in school, young lady?" asked one of the guards, his face wiped clean of emotion.

"I'm home schooled," she stated, casting her eyes downwards as she went to move away, only to be blocked once again.

"I don't believe you," droned the guard. "Speak the truth."

"It is the truth!" Anger flared up in her eyes and she forced herself to not lash out, instead opting to clench her fists tightly, her fingernails drawing blood from her palms.

"There you are!"

Emma jumped as the new voice interrupted her state down with the guard. She twisted her head and saw the dark haired man who had been talking with Wizard Francis, hurrying towards her.

"I hope you haven't been giving her trouble," the man- Howl- said, wrapping an arm around Emma's shoulders. "Come along now, poppet."

Emma felt safe in his arms. She hadn't felt safe since she was just a small baby, wrapped up in a woman's arm whose face was blurred and washed out so that she couldn't tell who she was.

"Thank you," she murmured softly to Howl as they made their way across the square.

"Anytime," he smiled down at her. "Where were you going, out of curiosity?"

"Nowhere, I wanted to explore," she explained shyly as they quickly arrived back at the palace. "I never had much freedom before."

Howl looked like he wanted to ask her more, only Wizard Francis appeared at that moment.

"Emma, there you are!" he called out, jogging over to where she and Howl were standing. "I want to show you where you'll be sleeping, if that's alright with you…"

Emma nodded and let go of Howl loud enough to follow the wizard down a short corridor before being showed to a bedroom that took her breath away.

The walls were draped with powder blue velvets and the hardwood floor was covered with a quilted rug. There were French doors which led out into a garden with a trickling fountain and blooming flowers, a bookshelf with heavy volumes and a small desk stocked with stacks of parchment and bottles of ink.

"Oh…" gasped Emma, stepping further into the room and seeing a fireplace with a comfy reading chair in front of it.

"I figured that you would like it," smiled Francis, still in the doorway. "It belonged to my last apprentice, who sadly enough, died in a tragic accident at sea."

"But why give all this to me? Won't you find another apprentice?" Emma asked him.

"Emma, I was hoping that you would be that apprentice." Emma gasped at his words and covered her mouth as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "I sensed that you are a powerful sorcereress, and that you need training."

"You mean… I'm not cursed? I'm not a monster?" she asked.

"Emma, no!" Francis gaped at her. "What makes you say such a foolish thing?"

"When I lived in the orphanage, the other girls called me a monster because I could do things that were impossible. Make things come to me by air. Start fire just by snapping my fingers. Levitate." She sighed, turning to the desk. "And then…"

Francis waited for her to speak.

"I accidently hurt one of the other girls."

The two didn't say anything for a minute. Emma cried and Francis watched her.

"Who are your parents?" Francis suddenly spoke.

"Haven't a clue," muttered Emma. "I was abandoned at a few months old."

"Hmm…" mused Francis, almost to himself before thinking of something. "I'll call for the palace seamstress to come and measure you for new clothes, is that alright with you?"

"If that isn't too much trouble?" Emma half asked, unsure.

"Oh no, it isn't. Ever since the crown prince married and had twin boys, the palace seamstress had been itching for a little girl to make pretty dresses for."

Emma giggled a bit at his statement.

"OK, then," she sounded surer of herself as she followed the wizard out of the bedroom and across the palace, going up stairs and through corridors.

"Madame Lucy! I have someone who needs a few outfits!" called out Francis, winking at Emma. A few seconds later, an older woman came bustling out of a back room, muttering.

"Oh, goodness, Master Francis! Who do you have for me today?" she asked him kindly. Francis stepped aside and revealed Emma, who was bashfully hiding behind her master. "Why hello, dearie."

"I'm Emma, Master Francis' new apprentice," she introduced herself shyly before being sent into a whirlwind of fabrics and dresses.


End file.
